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A Balkan blend of melodrama and farce.
In 1953, a Romanian village has gathered for a wedding; the happy couple, the guests and the banquet are all ready… Just at that moment, the Russian Army arrives. Stalin is dead and the nation must mourn. Under threat of death, the oversexed couple, their vexatious fathers, the entire town and a muted gypsy band continue the celebration in silence.
This overwhelmingly visual film moves effortlessly from joyous eroticism, through rural pastiche to the dreadful tension of the mute wedding itself. Along the way, we encounter a carnival of characters, the longest fart joke in history and the truly dreadful reality of life under communism.
The comedy is laid like bait, enticing us into the tragedy yet to unfold.
--- D Horatiu Malaele P Vlad Paunescu S Adrian Lustig, Horatiu Malaele WS Vendetta Films L Romanian w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2008